Written Answers Monday 3 October 2005

Scottish Executive

Agriculture

Mr Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive when the single farm payment was due to be paid and when it anticipates that payment will now be made.

Ross Finnie: Payments under the Single Farm Payment Scheme are due to be made between 1 December 2005 and 30 June 2006. The timing and amount of payment is dependent on agreement at EU level to legislation providing for partial or advance payments, ahead of finalising the calculation of payment entitlement. This is because a small percentage of the final payment level depends on National Reserve allocations across the UK. My department is on track to deliver Scottish payment entitlements, including National Reserve calculations, on time for payment when the payment window opens at the start of December, subject to EU approval.

Alcohol Misuse

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many hospital admissions due to alcohol abuse there have been in each year from 1999 to 2005 in the (a) NHS Fife, (b) NHS Tayside and (c) NHS Forth Valley area.

Lewis Macdonald: Tables are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. Table 1 (Bib. number 37547) shows the combined figures for acute and psychiatric hospital discharges with an explicit diagnosis of alcohol related conditions in Fife, Tayside and Forth Valley NHS areas for the period 1998-99 to 2001-02. This has been reported as discharge information because the detail is drawn from two datasets and one of these datasets records discharge data only. Complete data on psychiatric discharges are unavailable for 2002-03 to 2004-05.

  Table 2 (Bib. number 37548) provides information on discharges from acute hospitals only for the period requested. For acute hospitals, only discharge data exists. The 2004-05 figures are provisional.

Dentistry

Trish Godman (West Renfrewshire) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many dental practitioners are currently working in the NHS in (a) Renfrewshire, (b) Inverclyde and (c) Scotland and what the comparable figures were in 1998.

Lewis Macdonald: Number of Dentists1,2 Working in the NHS at 30 September 2005

  

 
 2004
 1998


 Renfrewshire
 86
 90


 Inverclyde
 33
 29


 Scotland
 2,161
 1,961



  Source: MIDAS (Management Information & Dental Accounting System).

  Notes:

  1. Comprises non-salaried and salaried principals, assistants and vocational trainees active in the NHS general dental service.

  2. An NHS general dental practitioner may have more than one contract with an NHS board if he/she has more than one practice, or a contract with more than one NHS board if he/she practises in more than one NHS board area.

Dentistry

Trish Godman (West Renfrewshire) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what recent discussions have taken place with NHS Argyll and Clyde and dental practitioners in respect of proposals to tackle dental health and hygiene in (a) Renfrewshire and (b) Inverclyde.

Lewis Macdonald: Scottish Executive officials meet regularly with lead officers from NHS Boards, including NHS Argyll and Clyde, to discuss the implementation of the Action Plan for Improving Oral Health and Modernising NHS Dental Services in Scotland.

Dentistry

Mike Rumbles (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the ministerial statement by the Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care on 17 March 2005 outlining that spending on NHS dentistry will rise from £200 million in the current year to £350 million in 2008 ( Official Report c. 15538), whether this funding has now been allocated to current and future budgets.

Lewis Macdonald: The increased funding contained within the ministerial statement on 17 March 2005 is held within the central General Dental Services programme for the purposes of primary care dental services, and is being allocated to NHS boards and to NHS Education for Scotland for oral health initiatives and workforce developments respectively.

Dentistry

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made in renegotiating the NHS contract with independent dental practitioners.

Lewis Macdonald: A number of measures have been introduced following the introduction of the Action Plan for Improving Oral Health and Modernising NHS Dental Services and Scottish Executive officials are in regular discussion with the dental profession on taking matters forward.

Dentistry

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the British Dental Association supported government proposals in 1991 to reduce the number of graduates in dentistry by closing the Edinburgh Dental School.

Lewis Macdonald: Yes.

Dentistry

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average annual payment is to independent dental practitioners for providing services under the NHS.

Lewis Macdonald: In the year ending March 2005 the average annual payment made to independent dental practitioners for providing services under the NHS was £85,828 1,2 .

  Source: MIDAS (Management Information & Dental Accounting System).

  Notes:

  1. Consists of item of service fees, plus capitation and continuing care fees, divided by the number of non-salaried NHS general dentists (principals and assistants) who had earnings during the financial year.

  2. Excludes allowances that NHS general dentists may be entitled to claim in addition to item of service, capitation and continuing care fees.

Equal Opportunities

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the remit is of the strategic group on ethnic minority employment announced by the Minister for Communities in an Executive news release on 21 June 2005.

Malcolm Chisholm: As outlined in the answer to question S2W-19176 on 20 September 2005, the main task of the strategic group will be to produce an action plan to address the current inequalities that exist for minority ethnic communities in the labour market in Scotland. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

  The action plan will identify what work needs to be taken forward to achieve the following long-term outcomes:

  Reduction of the minority ethnic employment gap.

  Elimination of the "ethnic penalty".

  Reduction in occupational segregation.

  Increased access to finance and business support services for minority ethnic entrepreneurs.

  Economic integration of new migrants.

  Working towards better inclusion of minority ethnic employees at every level of the workforce.

  The group’s formal remit will be agreed at its first meeting. An important consideration for the group will be to ensure that work undertaken in Scotland complements work being carried out by the UK government.

European Union

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what role its ministers or civil servants will have in the Better Regulation Conference, organised by the Cabinet Office as part of the UK Presidency of the European Union and being held in Edinburgh on 22 and 23 September 2005.

Mr Tom McCabe: The Deputy First Minister attended the reception for the Conference on 22 September 2005 and Executive officials liaised with, and gave assistance to, Cabinet Office officials in setting up the Conference.

Fisheries

Trish Godman (West Renfrewshire) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether a date has been set for awarding a contract for the construction of a near-water fisheries protection vessel for the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency.

Ross Finnie: The procurement process used by the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency (SFPA) is set out in EU Procurement Directives. The SFPA sought expressions of interest to construct this vessel on 18 August 2005, for return by 26 September 2005. On current plans, the agency aims to short-list the yards expressing such interest and invite tenders for return by end-November. Thereafter, the received tenders will be assessed to identify a preferred bidder with whom a contract will be negotiated. It is usual practice for the period of time for tender assessment to be kept flexible, and therefore no date has been set of the award of "preferred bidder" status or for the final contract award.

Health

Cathy Peattie (Falkirk East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) NHS and (b) private sector operations to reverse female sterilisation have been carried out in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board area.

Lewis Macdonald: The number of reversal of female sterilisation procedures performed by NHS Board of Residence in Scotland is presented in the table. The Scottish Executive does not hold details of operations performed in private hospitals.

  Number of female sterilisation reversals in Scotland for years ending 31 March 2000-04 by NHS board of residence:

  

 NHS Board of Residence
 2000
 2001
 2002
 2003
 2004


 Scotland
 184
 183
 158
 162
 127


 Ayrshire and Arran
 9
 13
 13
 10
 6


 Borders
 -
 1
 2
 1
 2


 Argyll and Clyde
 24
 13
 23
 15
 18


 Fife
 13
 20
 10
 11
 7


 Glasgow
 41
 36
 34
 34
 19


 Highland
 7
 8
 9
 9
 9


 Lanarkshire
 27
 27
 23
 36
 34


 Grampian
 16
 20
 13
 7
 10


 Orkney
 1
 -
 1
 -
 -


 Lothian
 3
 7
 4
 11
 11


 Tayside
 23
 15
 15
 7
 -


 Forth Valley
 18
 16
 9
 13
 7


 Western Isles
 1
 2
 1
 4
 1


 Dumfries and Galloway
 -
 5
 -
 1
 3


 Shetland
 -
 -
 1
 2
 -


 England
 1
 -
 -
 -
 -


 Unknown
 -
 -
 -
 1
 -



  Source: ISD Scotland (SMR01).

  Notes:

  1. These statistics are derived from data collected on discharges from non-obstetric and non-psychiatric hospitals (SMR01) in Scotland.

  2. The Office of Populations Censuses and Surveys Version 4 (OPCS4) codes Q29 and Q37 have been used to identify reverse female sterilisation procedures.

Housing

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it is giving to the reintroduction of grant funding to private developers for the provision of low-cost housing.

Malcolm Chisholm: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

  GRO grant funding for private developers for the provision of low-cost housing for owner occupation has been a long-standing mainstream programme of the Executive. Although the scheme was suspended in March 2001, pending resolution of compliance with European Union State Aid procedures, it was reinstated in March 2002 and is still operational.

Justice

Margaret Mitchell (Central Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases were processed by each sheriff in each of the last five years.

Margaret Mitchell (Central Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases were subject to a continuance by each sheriff in each of the last five years and what the average duration of a continuance was.

Margaret Mitchell (Central Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average time to process a case by each sheriff was in each of the last five years.

Cathy Jamieson: This information is not held centrally.

Mediation Services

Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to develop mediation schemes for adult offenders.

Hugh Henry: The Scottish Executive provides a wide range of interventions targeting the problem of low-level offending, including funding of £335,654 for reparation and mediation schemes operated by SACRO (Safeguarding Communities Reducing Offending) in partnership with local authorities as part of Diversion from Prosecution. Such schemes currently operate in Edinburgh, Midlothian, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire and Aberdeen.

  The Scottish Executive has no current plans to extend provision beyond these existing schemes.

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the remit is of the strategic needs assessment it is undertaking in respect of ME.

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive who has responsibility for undertaking the strategic needs assessment in respect of ME and what level of support is available to carry out the assessment effectively.

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects the strategic needs assessment in respect of ME to be completed and how it will publish the results.

Lewis Macdonald: The Executive is committed to carrying out an assessment of needs for ME services. It has, however, proved difficult to identify the best means of taking this forward. The former Scottish Needs Assessment Programme has been in abeyance for some years and the infrastructure which supported it no longer exists. After consideration of all options the Executive has decided that the work must be put out to tender. This will be done as soon as the financial resources to support it can be identified.

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what level of financial resources it makes available to NHS boards to help treat those who are affected by ME.

Lewis Macdonald: NHS boards are given unified budgets, increased by an average of 7.6% in the current financial year, from which they are expected to meet the costs of treatment for people with ME and all other chronic conditions. It is for boards to decide how their unified budgets should be distributed, based on their assessments of local needs.

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what level of support is provided by each NHS board for ME sufferers.

Lewis Macdonald: The information requested is not held centrally.

NHS Waiting Times

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what information it holds centrally about waiting lists for diagnostic scanning services.

Mr Andy Kerr: Our aim is to reduce waiting times for diagnostic services of all kinds, in line with the target announced recently to reduce diagnostic waits to nine weeks maximum by 2008. A variety of information on diagnostic waits is currently held by NHS boards and within the health department. The department is currently working with Information Services Division and NHSScotland to improve the collection and analysis of information about diagnostic waiting to enable boards to manage, report and improve performance against the Executive’s commitment.

People with Disabilities

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it can take to mitigate the effects of high fuel prices on disabled people.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Executive’s central heating programme aims to ensure that everyone of pension age, whether or not they are disabled, has central heating and adequate home insulation. In addition, the Warm Deal scheme offers a package of home insulation measures to people on a range of benefits including a number of disability benefits. I would encourage everyone in receipt of the Winter Fuel Payment and the Cold Weather Payment to ensure that they use these payments to heat their home.

Scottish Executive Consultations

Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any distinction is made in relevant oral or written answers to parliamentary questions between written and emailed submissions to consultations.

Ms Margaret Curran: No distinction is made. In practice, we view any e-mailed submission as "written" so long as it is transmitted in a legible form.

Scottish Executive Staff

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many registered deaf or hard-of-hearing staff it has employed, expressed also as a percentage of its total workforce, in each year since 1999.

Mr Tom McCabe: The number of permanent staff in the Scottish Executive core departments who have self-declared a hearing disability in each year since 1999 is shown in the following table.

  Staff with a Self-Declared Hearing Disability

  

 As at 1 April of Each Year
 Number
 As a Percentage of All Staff


 1999
 21
 0.5%


 2000
 20
 0.5%


 2001
 20
 0.5%


 2002
 21
 0.5%


 2003
 23
 0.5%


 2004
 26
 0.6%


 2005
 22
 0.5%



  In line with its policies on equal opportunities and diversity, and as a Job Centre Plus Disability Symbol User, the Scottish Executive is an organisation that values the contribution of each member of staff, including those who are disabled. We continue to make all necessary reasonable adjustments for individual members of staff, in line with our obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

Scottish Executive Staff

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many registered blind or visually impaired staff it has employed, expressed also as a percentage of its total workforce, in each year since 1999.

Mr Tom McCabe: The number of permanent staff in the Scottish Executive core departments who have self-declared a visual impairment in each year since 1999 is shown in the following table.

  Staff with a Self-Declared Visual Impairment

  

 As at 1 April of Each Year
 Number
 As a Percentage of All Staff


 1999
 14
 0.4%


 2000
 15
 0.4%


 2001
 13
 0.3%


 2002
 14
 0.3%


 2003
 17
 0.4%


 2004
 17
 0.4%


 2005
 16
 0.3%

Scottish Executive Staff

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of males employed by it have worked part-time, expressed also as a percentage of its total workforce, in each year since 1999.

Mr Tom McCabe: The proportion of male permanent staff employed in the Scottish Executive core departments who were working part-time at 1 April in each year since 1999 is shown in the following table, expressed also as a percentage of the total permanent workforce.

  

 As at 1 April of Each Year
 Male Part-Time Staff as a Percentage of All Male Staff
 Male Part-Time Staff as a Percentage of All Staff


 1999
 1.0%
 0.5%


 2000
 0.7%
 0.3%


 2001
 1.0%
 0.5%


 2002
 1.1%
 0.5%


 2003
 1.1%
 0.5%


 2004
 1.3%
 0.7%


 2005
 1.6%
 0.8%



  In line with its equal opportunities and diversity policies, the Scottish Executive does not discriminate against part-time workers and is committed to ensuring that all of its staff, both male and female, achieve a satisfactory work-life balance. Part-time working is only one of several ways in which Scottish Executive staff can enjoy additional flexibility in their working pattern.

Scottish Executive Staff

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of females employed by it have worked part-time, expressed also as a percentage of its total workforce, in each year since 1999.

Mr Tom McCabe: The proportion of female permanent staff employed in the Scottish Executive core departments who were working part-time at 1 April in each year since 1999 is shown in the following table, expressed also as a percentage of the total permanent workforce.

  

 As at 1 April of Each Year
 Female Part-Time Staff as a Percentage of all Female Staff
 Female Part-Time Staff as a Percentage of All Staff


 1999
 16.6%
 7.8%


 2000
 16.3%
 7.7%


 2001
 17.0%
 8.3%


 2002
 17.6%
 8.7%


 2003
 18.0%
 8.9%


 2004
 18.6%
 9.1%


 2005
 19.9%
 9.8%



  I would also refer Ms White to the answer to question S2W-19314 on 3 October 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Scottish Executive Staff

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of women employed part-time by it have been in the top 10% pay bracket in each year since 1999.

Mr Tom McCabe: The percentage of female permanent staff employed part-time in the Scottish Executive core departments who were in the top 10% pay bracket at 1 April in each year since 1999 is shown as follows:

  1999: 3.7%

  2000: 4.5%

  2001: 4.4%

  2002: 4.0%

  2003: 4.3%

  2004: 5.5%

  2005: 6.7%.

  In line with its equal opportunities and diversity policies, the Scottish Executive does not discriminate against part-time workers and is committed to ensuring that all of its staff, both male and female, achieve a satisfactory work-life balance. Part-time working is only one of several ways in which Scottish Executive staff can enjoy additional flexibility in their working pattern.

Scottish Executive Staff

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of men employed part-time by it have been in the top 10% pay bracket in each year since 1999.

Mr Tom McCabe: The percentage of male permanent staff employed part-time in the Scottish Executive core departments who were in the top 10% pay bracket at 1 April in each year since 1999 is shown as follows:

  1999: 15.0%

  2000: 7.1%

  2001: 14.3%

  2002: 17.4%

  2003: 20.8%

  2004: 16.1%

  2005: 10.8%.

  It should be noted that due to the relatively small numbers of male part-time staff, a change in working pattern of only one or two members of staff can have a large impact on the annual percentages.

  In line with its equal opportunities and diversity policies, the Scottish Executive does not discriminate against part-time workers and is committed to ensuring that all of its staff, both male and female, achieve a satisfactory work-life balance. Part-time working is only one of several ways in which Scottish Executive staff can enjoy additional flexibility in their working pattern.